The Original Funny Farm

Where life is beautiful all the time and I'll be happy to see those nice young men in their clean white coats...
Adventures of aBasic Force For Good in Our TimeTM

28 June 2006

Tit For TatSunday, 1 Promise 2006

My dKos implant has been activated, and it compels me to break the silence I have so loyally adhered to since the whole KosGate scandal erupted. My unquestioning obediance to the vast left wing conspiracy has generated the following words for your infotainment, O My Brothers:

Respect Where Respect Is Dueby Tom GevaertLoosely based on insane ramblings in The NY Times by David Brooks

They say that the Repugnican't spin is just starting up for the fall elections and politics has become the realm of the small-minded. But in the land of the Reich Wing, the Illegally Installed Drunken Cokeheaded Usurper must be accorded full respect.

The Illegally Installed Drunken Cokeheaded Usurper, a k a Gee What A Dumba$$ Putsch, sits in the WhiteWash House, fires up his Republibots at CNN, Faux Snooze, and the New York Times (hi McBobo!), and commands his followers, who come across like squadrons of rabid theofascists, to unleash their venom on those who dare to point out that the Chimperor has no clothes. And in this way the Usurper has made himself a mighty force in his own mind, and every knee shall bow.

The Usurper's first enemy was the right to an open governmental process, where energy task force meetings would not be populated with corpo-weasels from the energy industry, and where, even if they were, that knowledge would be available to the public. So he declared by Imperial Fiat that no one would know who or what went on in those meetings, and it pleased him to see freedom being constrained in this manner in the land of the brave. When the Putsch administration appointed the supremely unqualified, and extremely partisan Karl Rove and Karen Hughes as taxpayer paid administration insiders accountable to no one, this was an appropriate sign of disrespect, and the Usurper did lay his hand of pResidential approval upon the Rovian smear campaign (whilst hiding his connections to it).

When OhMyGodWhatADick Cheney, the pResident of the Senate, told an elected Senator to go Cheney himself on the floor of the Senate when he first became its' pResident, this was also a sign of respect. The Usurper had instructed his Repugnican't minions to support any and all smears of Democratic Party members. And the Usurper pretended he could not hear the smears of his minions, and mindless hacks like McBobo bought it hook, line, and sinker, and disseminated it throughout the land.

The Usurper often directs his wrath at Repugnican'ts who have not bought into his neocon fantasies. But the gay hooker JD Guckert has also swallowed whatever the pResident shoots his way, and the Usurper has graciously exempted Guckert from the need to be a credentialed member of the press. Guckert is frequently utilized By the Repugnican'ts as something akin to a porn fluffer.

And so it is in the realm of the Usurper. Those who blindly follow the edicts of the Chimperor get respected.

But lo, there are doubters. Joe Wilson, a US diplomat, whose wife was treasonously outed as a CIA operative while a non-official covert operative, wrote a column in the New York Times pointing out the inconsistency between the utterances of the Chimperor and reality. He further refused to cave in to administrative pressure, and stuck to his story.

The Illegally Installed Drunken Cokeheaded Deserter was displeased by this publicity.

But the Usurper hid his mighty wrath from public view (although reportedly he took it out on those who supported him the most), and his minion Rove responded with the sleaziness for which he is so well known. In a private letter to hundreds of his fellow conservative kool-aid drinkers, Rove declared (on behalf of the Usurper) he would "go on the offensive" in a "couple of months," but in the meantime, a code of omertà was in order. "It would make my life easier if we can confine the story," he wrote. "If any of us respond to the Democratic allegations right now, we fuel the story. Let's starve it of oxygen. Besides, I have a doozy of an operation slated to begin this September. They won't buy the bs then if we start to peddle it now."

But alas! There were still those of integrity within the bureaucracy, who attempted to prevent the Usurper's Kristallnacht, and tried to inform the public of what the Usurper had in store for america.

The Usurper waxed Cheneyesque on the evils of leaking, and this time the squeaking fury of the Dunsel In Chief could be heard (to those capable of discerning bedwetting cowards) far and wide. The Usurper excommunicated those who dared to dissent from the administration. "you are either with us or with the terrorists" he said with a straight face during remarks to the US Congress.

"We ask every nation to join us. We will ask, and we will need, the help of police forces, intelligence services, and banking systems around the world." the Usurper charged. And so a pair of Asian nations was expunged from the global community of the righteous, and its people cast into the shadow of oblivion.

The Usurper does not notice that his people are angered with his arrogance (unless his advisors disrupt his blissful ignorance). Sounding like Tom DeLay ? who is his loyal lieutenant ? Putsch says that those who dare to criticize his Imperial pResidency and take on the establishment are bound to be persecuted to the full extant that the administration is capable of.

But the truth is that the new boss is little different from the old boss ? only smaller. Dennis Hastert and Bill Frist and many other Repugnican'ts bow and scrape to this Clueless Blunder. He has managed to spread the gospel of smear and deflect far and wide, which is not really about ideas and philosophy. "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier...just as long as I'm the dictator" he has said.

And so the Usurper has his relationships and his understandings and his networks and his compromises. In just a few short years he has achieved a level of self-importance it took those in the pre-junta political class decades to acquire. And all it has cost mankind is the soul of its' greatest nation.

01 March 2005

We're Still Having Credulity Problems...

...because it's been almost a year now since we moved to the new digs, and we're still getting about twenty hits a day here at the old place. If you make it here, why not take that extra click of your mouse to check out the new digs? If you're a blogger who is still inked to this zone, could you please update your links to point to the new digs?

At least we now have more links pointing to the new digs than we do to the old. But our sites must be some of the ones that drive NZ Bear nuts - they're both listed as rodents in the ecosystem, even though this site is actually lower on the evolutionary scale.

Anyways,... if you've read this far, why not take those precious few extra seconds and go visit the new digs? You'll be glad you did...

22 September 2004

As unbeleivable as I have to find this, all the bloggy goodness of my new home seems to be unnoticed by some of those of you out there. We are getting more hits on our old site on a daily basis than we are getting at our new home. Everyone please update your bookmarks to go to our new home, and come visit our new home on a daily basis (as you seem to be doing here at our original home!) because we have almost managed to post at least once per day for some significant stretches of time (we have just passed post 160 over at the new place) and once in a while even more than one in a 24-hour period.

Thanks to the good graces of Blogger we are still able to reach out and kindly request that you go over to our new home every day. There will be updated links in the new links zone over at our new home that you should check out, too...

27 June 2004

19 June 2004

Assorted Mayhem Shamelessly Promoted

Wherein I put some new content here and link to some funky pics I have in my new zone. Click on the pics to be transported to a better place, with some soon to be added extra special features like cool mp3s not available for public consumption anywhere else and links to cool flash movies and such...

But that's all in the possibly never-to-be-actualized potential future. For now...

linkThe Bush administration has a longstanding practice of making technically accurate, but misleading and tendentious, statements in order to try and trick people into believing things that aren't true, while protecting themselves from criticism in the elite media.

Well Ted Rall is back
With a new cartoon
It caused quite a stir
We can see some
Handing him all kinds of anger
Showing off their ugly nature
Everybody wants to slag Ted Rall.

It's his only way
To say what he feels
Why is it so wrong
For him to speak out
On freedom and hypocrites
Nothing seems to be okay here
Everybody wants to slag Ted Rall.

There's some rooms where no light can find you
Making all of your accusations now
When you do you just look real foolish

So glad he's free to say it
So sad no one can take it
Everybody wants to slag Ted Rall.

I can't stand this indiscretion
Saying Ted's an unbalanced cretin
Everybody wants to slag Ted Rall.
Say that you'll never never never never read him
Let others just believe him
Everybody wants to slag Ted Rall.

All for freedom and for satire
Cartoons can sure cause some anger
Everybody wants to slag Ted Rall.

13 May 2004

Blogging Up a Storm...

...over at the new home of the Funny Farm, where I'm putting up my first cat blogging pictures tomorrow. I can't tell you how good it is to be able to rely on your own space on the web instead of snarfing up bandwidth supplied by others. Which others of which I speak are becoming aware of the abusage that they have been experiencing and are no longer permitting it (cough cough WhiteHouse.org cough cough). And of course not even the ghost of Ann Slanders has come around for a while (paging John Wesley Hardin - please Talk To Me over at the new digs, if you know what I mean...). But she might find a way to get over to the new place by and by; in the meantime rest assured that the Ghost of Bill Sprint (along with the details of his legend) will be showing up in the new pages one of these days. If I can find enough filthy lucre to entice him into semi-compliance with my nefarious schemes, that is.

This should be the last entry here for a while. I just came over to see what all the fuss with the new Blogger software was. My answer: not much. Anyways,... go to the new site! Just go! And put a link to the new and improved Funny Farm (still 69% good, but a third more funny) in your blog links, or your web page links, or just brand it onto some Freepertrash buttocks for all I can do about it. I'll be there waiting to infotain you once again...

30 April 2004

Heretical Thoughts

So, I'm sitting at work today (in a funk, of course, because of the travesty tragedy on ice that I suffered through last night - otherwise, I might not even be bothered by this), and I get some bad news. One of my coworkers recently found out that one of his daughters was diagnosed with acute leukemia last week. The email informing his coworkers of what is going on in his family then updates us on the status of the situation, and how the family is adjusting to the new situation. Then comes the part that is bothersome to me.

First, my VP asks us all to contribute to something so that we can show that our thoughts and prayers are with our coworker in his time of trouble. Then, I get an update from my fellow coworker, informing us that his daughter is feeling better, and thanking us because it appears our prayers are working.

Excuse me, wouldn't the chemotherapy treatments (she's now on day 4 of 7) be contributing to her improvement slightly? Maybe her acceptance and positive outlook (of course, this could possibly be helped out by her faith) might be contributing to her handling the situation better, too. But to credit this individual's recovery to divine intervention seems to be quite a stretch for those of us who don't necessarily feel the same way about an Invisible Cloud Deity reaching down to succor this particular soul right now (possibly, a cynic might say, just to prolong the agony she's about to have to go through), or for that matter, those who might not have the same beliefs about what, if any, god(s) there might be.

I'd like to convey my desire for things to work out for my fellow employee. But I am very much afraid that there is little if no way to do it without either tacitly supporting the religious beliefs expressed in the group's support for a friend in need, or causing offense to those religious beliefs (by showing my support and making it clear that I do not believe in his particular form of faith). I guess I need to stay away from the official office show of support for my coworker, and keep my mouth shut about my blasphemous pagan babblings of doubt about our Lord And Savior (Amen!) so as not to offend those around me in my place of business.

I wonder if they would be happy to have the Hindus in the House (can I get a Holla!) ask Vishnu to watch over their daughter (although I'm pretty sure they wouldn't appreciate offerings to Siva on her behalf)? Or if it would be okay to ask Allah to help their little girl? I find myself questioning whether even bringing this sort of discussion up is offensive to True Believers of the One God. And whether those adherents of the faith are aware (or concerned) about their effect on the work place when they do this sort of thing (need I mention that of course this is considered an appropriate use of company time and resources?).

Quite a few others have grappled with this question recently, and that may have caused me to notice this sort of thing a little more. I'm sure that it has allowed me to communicate my dilemma more clearly. And I hope that it has managed to make you think about this issue a little better than you did yesterday.

29 April 2004

We Have Liftoff!

Even as we communicate about it right now, my imagination is furiously designing the new home of the Funny Farm. There will be some upgrades arriving there eventually but for now it's pretty rough. I hope you will be able to settle in comfortably along with me into my new home. Of course, there's lots of new toys (including my own pictures and my first adventure with interactivity. Zoinks! I quite possibly may have to deal with comments now... plus XML / RSS / whatever else I can manage to figure out to hook up) to keep me busy, and I may even manage to find a few extra authors to put some content up at the new digs. From now on, you should be able to find new bloggy goodness over at:

www.funnyfarmonline.org

*

There will also be a few double posts, with the distinct possiblilty of hitting my own personal trifecta for the first time with a post over at Open Source Politics that gets cross posted everywhere I can manage to put it.

So drop on by from time to time. The color scheme should return to something less searing to the retinas by the end of the week. This blog will remain here for as long as the good graces of Blogger keep it gratis. I would also like to take this opportunity to request that my friends in the TTLB Ecosystem (evreyone else with a blog who is not yet a member of the ecosystem - you should be there too!) update their links to me. Let me know how you found me in the Fashionable Left Bank of Blogistan. And I'll talk to you again real soon!

* - we had originally linked the text in the box. However, I can't figure out (and/or bother to figure out) making linked text show up in a different size on the page. So we moved the link elsewhere in the body of the post..

We apologize for the inconvenience in fiery letters thirty feet high (metaphorically speaking).

28 April 2004

Breaking Down

I'm so verklempt after last night's disaster that I can barely find enough strength to point you to this reading assignment from Interesting Monstah: go to the post titled Jeebocrats on the March: Blood-Stained Banner, v. 4.0 and read through the articles Laurie links to (disclosure: I have read a lot of them already, in particular Orcinus' work. I'm still trying to get through all of it myself... and I know it was posted over two months ago. The wheels grind slow, but they grind fine, around here.), as well as her excellent analysis of the concerns of many who have not given themselves wholly to the Word of Our Lord (in His Name, Amen!).

There's lots of other things to check out these days - go to all of the usual suspects' web sites for a while.

And you could go FReep the latest CNN poll (go down to the bottom of the front page. Today's question: Should Vice President Cheney's private records on a national energy task force be made public? Not that they're trying to load it one way or the other or anything like that...). Or Lou Dobbs' poll (interestingly enough, it's the same question as the front page, but the voting tally is completely different - at least it is for today. Ever since the Fashionable Left Bank of Blogistan found out about these polls, they seem to morph a lot, especially when the vote doesn't come out the way the Conservative Christian News Network wants it to...). Or Wolfie Baby's poll, which for today is also the same question as the other two - and I'm guessing must be the same as the poll on the main page, because the numbers match. Not that I'm saying CNN is trying to get a poll result to their liking that they can broadcast or anything like that...

25 April 2004

Spring Cleaning

I have finally got around to updating the Open Source Politics areas in the Funny Farm Links Zones. I have tried to retain my links to the few who have dropped out of OSP in other areas of the Links Zone for your continued surfing enjoyment.

Seriously, though... my apologies to some of my Open Source Politics brethren for not linking them up like I should have. Some of you are still not on the list because you link back to Open Source Politics, instead of a blog of your own. I am unsure of what to do for you - more links to OSP would only clutter things up.

Sorry it has taken so long to get around to this. Things have been a little topsy-turvy here at the Funny Farm of late. And there is big doings afoot in the zone as well - be prepared for an announcement the like of which has not been seen in our almost two years over here in the Fashionable Left Bank of Blogistan. More details will follow as my nefarious plans unfold in the coming fortnight.

Until then, I'm going to tap into a new growler from my neighborhood brew pub and drown my sorrow over Montreal's 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning this afternoon. I wish those two unbelievable saves that Theodore made in the first period were actually worth something. But as a former hockey player myself, I can appreciate what happened, even though my team lost again this afternoon. The Habs lost focus for a few minutes, and that was all it took. D'oh! Maybe they can win one at home this week...

24 April 2004

Major Embarrassment Situation

I am ashamed to be a fan of the Montreal Canadiens today.

Not because they were hopelessly outclassed 4 - 0 last night. There is nothing to be ashamed of when you are beaten by a better team, as long as you try your best to win. The Tampa Bay Lightning certainly looked like they were playing much better than the Habs last night. Plus they got lucky on the first two goals.

No, I have a different reason for my embarrassment on behalf of the team. There was a small pair of 'plays' that made me want to string up one of Montreal's players (and this is the second time this playoff season that I have felt this way - the Kovalev faux pas in overtime in the first round against Boston was the other one...), and made me ashamed to be rooting for him.

In the first period of last night's game, Richard Zednik was in the offensive zone when he was hacked by somebody playing for Tampa Bay. He immediately went down on the ice as if he was seriously hurt. Then he started flopping around on the ice to try and draw a penalty. Unfortunately, the only thing the refs might have called in that case was a diving penalty, against Zednik himself, for embellishing the hack. Which is embarrassment situation number one.

But, we're not done with the embarrassment potential of this incident yet. Once Zednik was sure that his theatrics were not going to be rewarded, he got up (very effortlessly for someone supposedly writhing around in pain on the ice just a few seconds ago), skated over to the Bolt who hacked him, and gave him a two-hander in retaliation. From behind. As the Bolt was going off the ice.

The kicker of the whole thing is that the original hack, the dive, and the retaliation all went on under the watchful eyes of just about everybody in the arena - yet no penalties were called.

Maybe the league should review game tapes and hand out fines for every little whack with the stick, every time somebody grabs someone else's stick, every single cheap shot made by every player in every game. I would think that, even with a nominal (for someone pulling down a salary of almost two million on average) fine, this would pile up fast. I see an almost continual stream of chippy little crap that should be called, but never is. And this sort of thing always gets worse in the playoffs.

That's not what hockey is supposed to be about. There is definitely enough room within the rules to allow physical play. But the cheap shots need to be punished, and punished severely. It always seemed to me that one of the main points of sport was to be civil about the whole thing. You're not there to hurt each other. You're not there to physically cripple the other team enough to win the game against them. You want to play your best, and see how that stacks up against others when they play their best.

At least that's the way I thought it used to be, before the almighty dollar became the primary focus of the endeavor. Now I guess it's worth it to cripple someone else just so you can get your next big paycheck. Sigh...

At least, that's what my little gadget tells me over in the Funny Farm links zone. I wonder if the BFEE ABC will decide to disappear the original story sometime in the next few months?

I guess the pResidential philosophy is: a big steaming pile of kimchee over here, a large dose of hypocrisy over there, another attempt to establish Orwellian doublespeak as acceptable discourse over that way - what's the difference? Didn't you tell us you were going to try and fight terrorism? Is that why you've nourished it the last few years? What will your Invisible Cloud Deity tell you to inflict upon us next?

And when oh when will you focus on catching bin Laden? Bill Bennett bets it'll be after the outrage over the grandstanding at Ground Zero during Repugnicant Whorefest 2004. I say you want to get that out of the way before the big pResidential vacation this August, and you'll wait until the hype at the Democratic convention this summer reaches fever pitch.

22 April 2004

Hell, Yes, I'm Pissed

I just finished reading this article about The Conscientious Objector Policy Act, enacted by the Michigan legistlature under pressure from the Catholics religiously insane. Thanks to Jeebus' General (Sir! Thanks for coming back and blogging. It helps the troops morale, Sir!) for showing us the way to the silliness enacted just outside of our own front door, so to speak, here at the Funny Farm.*

There are so many things wrong with this piece of legislative morality, where can I start? This looks like as good a place as any [emphasis and commentary with surprised incredulity from the Funny Farm] :

Sec. 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "conscientious objector policy act".

Sec. 3. As used in this act:

(a) "Health facility" means a health facility or agency as defined in section 20106 of the public health code, 1978 PA 368, MCL 333.20106, a private physician office, or a public or private institution, teaching institution, pharmacy, corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship that provides a health care service to an individual.

(b) "Health care provider" means a person licensed or registered under article 15 of the public health code, 1978 PA 368, MCL 333.16101 to 333.18838, a student of a health facility, or another person who is employed by or under contract to a health facility and directly participates in the provision of a health care service.

(c) "Health care service" means the provision or withdrawal of, or research or experimentation involving, a medical treatment, procedure, device, medication, drug, or other substance intended to affect the physical or mental condition of an individual.

(d) "Medical director" mean that term as defined in section 20906 of the public health code, 1978 PA 368, MCL 333.20906.

Sec. 5.
(1) A health care provider may assert as a matter of conscience(cough) an objection to providing or participating in a health care service that conflicts with his or her sincerely held religious or moral beliefs. (who decides? how sincere? will we have ranked lists of which beliefs are the most sincere, and who gets to put together the lists?)

(2) A health care provider shall notify his or her employer in writing of a conscientious objection described in subsection (1). (This will be put in your permanent record)

(3) A health care provider may assert his or her conscientious objection under any of the following conditions:

(a) Upon being offered employment. (upon which you will no longer be offered employment. if you want the sratch, you gots to support the Health Care Facility's sincerely held religious or moral beliefs)

(b) At the time the health care provider adopts a religious or moral belief system that conflicts with participation in a health care service. (your sanctioned belief system affiliation papers, please... hey Marc, you gots any Church of Reality documents we can shamelessly exploit for fun and profit capitalize on? I realize it's a niche market, but if we get in ahead of the curve and can get enough gullible religious nuts faithful followers lunch money righteous largesse to support the endeavor, we could be rich enough to realize a benefit from the Bush elite cash grab tax cuts!)

(c) At any other time the health care provider considers it necessary to assert a conscientious objection.

(d) Within 24 hours after receiving notice that he or she may be asked or scheduled to participate in a health care service to which he or she conscientiously objects. If the health care provider is given less than 24 hours' notice that he or she has been scheduled to participate in an objectionable health care service, the health care provider shall assert an objection, either orally or in writing, as soon as it is practicable.

Sec. 7.
(1) An employer shall retain a health care provider's written objection filed under section 5 for the duration of the health care provider's employment. The written objection is valid for the duration of the health care provider's employment or until rescinded by the health care provider in writing.

(2) After receiving a written objection pursuant to section 5, an employer shall not require the objecting health care provider to provide or participate in the objectionable healthcare service.

(3) If a health care provider asserts an objection under section 5 less than 24 hours prior to the scheduled health care service, the employer shall make a reasonable effort to exclude the health care provider from participating in the health care service or find a replacement for the health care provider.

(4) An employer shall not refuse employment or staff privileges to a health care provider who has exercised his or her right to assert an objection to providing or participating in a health care service under section 5, unless participation in that health care service is indicated as a part of the normal course of duties in the posting of the availability of the position for employment or staff privileges.

(5) A medical school or other institution for the education or training of a health care provider shall not refuse admission to an individual or penalize that individual because the individual has filed in writing with the medical school or other institution a conscientious objection to participating in a health care service under this act.

Sec. 9.
Except as provided in section 11, a health care provider's objection to providing or participating in a health care service as described in section 5 shall not be the basis for 1 or more of the following:

(a) Civil liability to another person.

(b) Criminal action.

(c) Administrative or licensure action.

(d) Termination of employment or refusal of staff privileges at a health facility.

(e) An involuntary change in terms or conditions of employment or other disciplinary action, including, but not limited to, termination of employment, by the health care provider's employer.

Sec. 11.
(1) The protections afforded to a health care provider under this act do not apply under any of the following circumstances:

(a) A health care provider shall not assert an objection to a health care service if a patient's condition, in the reasonable medical judgment of an attending physician or medical director, requires immediate action to prevent the death of that patient. (what if the Invisible Cloud Deity decides it's time for the Health care Recipient to get their ticket to the Promised Afterlife? Who are these puny health care providers who thwart the omnipotent all being's designs?)

(b) A health care provider shall not assert an objection to providing or participating in a health care service based on the classification of a patient or group of patients protected under the Elliot-Larsen civil rights act, 1976 PA 453, MCL 37.2101 to 37.2804, or based on a disease or other medical condition. (does homosexuality come under this definition? yet? just asking...)

(c) A health care provider shall not make an objection known to or in the presence of a patient who is or may be the subject of the health care service to which the health care provider is objecting.

(2) If a health care provider asserts an objection to a health care service that at the time the objection is asserted constitutes a regular or substantial portion of the health care provider's current and defined position, the employer may give the health care provider not less than 6 months' notice of the termination of his or her employment. As used in this section, "regular or substantial portion" means that 10% or more of the health care provider's daily or weekly hours of duty consist of providing or participating in that health care service. (just in case you thought that the health care provider might have a chance of working according to their morals and ethics)

(3) This act does not relieve a health care provider from a duty that exists under another statute or other law pertaining to current standards of acceptable health care practice and procedure to inform a patient of the patient's condition, prognosis, and risks or receiving health care services for the condition. However, this subsection does not impose a duty on a health care provider to counsel, recommend, or refer a health care service to which the health care provider has asserted an objection as described in section 5.

Sec. 13.
(1) A civil action for damages or reinstatement of employment, or both, may be brought against a person, including, but not limited to, a governmental agency, health facility, or other employer, for penalizing or discriminating against a health care provider, including, but not limited to, penalizing or discriminating in hiring, promotion, transfer, a term or condition of employment, licensing, or granting of staff privileges or appointments, because that health care provider has asserted an objection to participating in a health care service under section 5. Civil damages may be awarded equal to 3 times the amount of proven damages and attorney fees. A civil action filed under this subsection may include a petition for injunctive relief against a person alleged to have penalized or discriminated against a health care provider as described in this subsection.

(2) A person who violates this act is responsible for a state civil infraction and may be ordered to pay a fine of not more than $1,000.

How long do you think it will take for these people to realize that these rules can be used to discriminate against their particular form of religious insanity?

==========

I was hoping to get this out before trundling off to my work zone this morning, but it took a little too much research to get everything in place and get this post out on the blog. And of course, by the time I got these scribblings in a form coherent enough for you to comprehend, gentle reader, I notice that my fellow OSPer Susie over at Suburban Guerilla, as well as the recently linked King of Zembla, as well as (in all likelihood) half of the fashionable left bank of blogistan, beat me to the punch in getting the news out to you. Again.

God Damn you, George Steinbrenner!

==========

* - Editor**'s Note: We don't always credit the many many valuable internet information awareness locations that provide us with most of the infotainment that helps us make it through the day. Ever since the BFEE*** turned the mainstream media into a wholly owned subsidiary of theirs, I haven't been tuned into their wavelength, so to speak. But I'd like to send massive props out to Atrios, Kos, Hesiod, Josh, Kevin, and all the rest of you too numerous to mention who are the de facto liberal media right now. And, yes, I wasn't going to mention Don or John or Eric specifically, either, until the end. And of course Bob leads the pack cataloguing the kimchee being exuded everywhere, from the Oval Orifice in the WhiteWash House, the scoundrels in the Congress, and the bankrupt state governments, to the media whores and their infotainment empires, these days.. Thanks to all of you for exposing these bastards as the theiving whores they are whilst entertaining us along the way. Without all of you (or should I say all of us?), we would be lost in our despair.

** - And by Editor, we of course mean Editor, Chief Cook, Bottle Washer, Brewmeister, Ghost of Mr. Know-It-All Impersonator (Hey, Rocky! Watch me pull a rabbit outta my hat...****), and any one of the six impossible things we mange to get through before breakfast each morning (we haven't quite gotten to the Regular Morning Scream yet, but, hey, it's not even May - and we don't live in a cave where Islington will someday be built...) and make up a fancy title for. Just because we can. And of course we use the royal We when doing so, because, well, quite often we feel like royalty because we can waste so much of our time on things like making silly blog posts instead of having to spend every single moment trying to survive until the next morning's sunrise.

*** - We're going to say this again and again until you understand: BFEE = Bush Family Evil Empire

My man Scoobie Davis wants me to tell you that Christopher Ruddy is a noisome little prick. He also wants you to know that Christopher Ruddy was an ex New York Post writer (cough) subsequently hired by a Scaife tabloid sheet. Christopher Ruddy then foolishly taunted 60 Minutes to call him on his Clintonista propaganda (Ha! I fart in your general direction, Christopher Ruddy! Your feeble brained lies are only fit for wiping a donkey's bottom!).

Of course, now Christopher Ruddy has been universally quoted as a factual source by the vile Pigboy as well as an all-star cast of the Conservative Media Whores, and now Christopher Ruddy runs NewsMax like the noisome little prick he is. Hopefully, now, when anyone uses Google to search on the words Christopher Ruddy, they will be brought to a fine article exposing Christopher Ruddy for what he is, a tool of the conservative movement.